Brainwashed

By Merril Hoge,

Book cover of Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football

Book description

The outcry surrounding CTE is missing something critical: the science to justify it.

When post-concussion syndrome forced star NFL running back Merril Hoge into early retirement in 1994, research on football-related head injuries wasn't a priority. At the time, football was heavily influenced by a tough guy culture, and little…


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Why read it?

1 author picked Brainwashed as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love Brainwashed because it’s a counterintuitive investigation into something we all take for granted: Football scrambles the brains of its players. Or does it?


This book fits well into my category—how technology is changing us and how we live—because among many other things it looks at how new safety technology and concussion protocols have made football much safer, not to mention challenged old ideas about players “getting their bell rung.”

It’s also a deep dive into dogma and how science can be used to serve interests unrelated to truth. It’s a terrific book. 

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